Sidhu discusses e-governance with Nandan Nilekani

Navjot Singh Sidhu calls on Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani

Punjab Local Government Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu today met Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani to discuss the progress made through e-governance in all the 167 urban local bodies (ULBs) of the state. The minister also took up the issue of operationalizing the Mohali campus of Infosys, an official release read. The discussion at Bengaluru centered around doorstep delivery of government services, the release said. In this context, e-governance would play a critical role by increasing transparency, simplifying service delivery, and driving efficiency, the release said. The entire exercise would result in a manifold increase in revenue collection which in turn would enable delivery of high-quality services to people, he said.

Nilekani, drawing on his cross-sectoral experience with digital transformation at scale, concurred on the need for capacity building to ensure long-term statewide benefits arising out of this programme. An MoU was signed in February with the eGovernments Foundation, also co-founded by Nilekani, to provide solutions for e-governance of urban local bodies (ULBs) throughout Punjab. Sidhu said that 500 IT savvy experts would be hired through TCS for the capacity building of ULBs.